The present invention relates to door assemblies for closing a door opening in a wall and more particularly to a plug type aircraft door that is constructed to withstand internal cabin pressure when in a closed position and yet that can be opened outwardly from the fuselage through the door opening.
Aircraft having pressurizable passenger cabins normally employ ingress and egress doors that are generally referred to as plug type doors. Plug type doors are seated in the fuselage door opening and secured in that opening so that when the passenger cabin is pressurized, the internal pressure on the door will not cause the door to blow out. Such plug type doors are normally larger in at least one dimension, either horizontally or vertically, than the door opening. Thus such doors either must be opened inwardly, utilizing valuable passenger deck space, or must be constructed so that they can be moved outwardly through a door opening that is smaller than the door itself.
Since cabin space is at a premium, most commercial aircraft in use today utilize plug type doors that are modified in configuration during the opening sequence to reduce the size of the door relative to the opening or are reoriented relative to the door opening during the opening sequence so that the doors can be moved outwardly through the door opening. One such door is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,051,280 to Bergman, Eisenhart and Wood. The door disclosed in the Bergman et al. patent has retractable tabs mounted at the upper and lower edges of the door that seal the gap between the upper and lower edges of the door and the lintel and sill, respectively, of the door opening when the door is closed. The retractable tabs are moved inwardly by an actuator during the opening sequence to decrease the vertical dimension of the door. The Bergman et al. hinge mechanism then allows the door to be moved inwardly, rotated through approximately 90.degree. and then swung outwardly through the door opening. Since, however, the door must rotate inwardly, valuable cabin space must always remain free of obstacles so that the door can be opened at any time.
It is accordingly a broad object of the present invention to provide a plug type door for an opening in a wall, and specifically for a door opening in an aircraft fuselage, that is configured so the door can be swung through the door opening without substantial inward movement relative to the door opening; that is relatively simple in design when compared with prior art plug type doors; and that reduces or virtually eliminates the seal abrasion problems of the prior art.